Tag Archives: sayeeda warsi

Coalition parties attacked severance pay – but Chris Huhne keeps £17,000

12:07pm Tue February 7th

Remaining silent in the face of criticism of his severance pay, one can only assume Chris Huhne is intent on trousering the £17,000 he is officially entitled to after police charges forced him from office.

While we’re not sure that the Scrapbook team hold much sway with the sharp-elbowed member for Eastleigh, perhaps he might listen to the wisdom of his colleauges. Step forward pensions minister Steve Webb:

“People will be shocked to learn that former ministers get these pay-offs even when they have been sacked or left of their own free will … While thousands are losing their jobs, failed ministers get a huge payout on top of their salary as MPs. This can’t go on.”

And surely Chris will remember this broadside from Sayeeda Warsi — he was sharing a platform with her at the time:

“At a time when people across the country are being asked to tighten their belts to deal with Labour’s economic mess, it is unacceptable that the very people responsible, walk away with up to £20,000 each. Forfeiting this pay would be the first step towards accepting their responsibility”

Yet another case of “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Warsi's lies exposed: Tories were outspent by UKIP in Oldham

7:58pm Fri February 18th

14 comments

Sayeeda Warsi’s fiction that the Tories fought a full campaign in the Oldham East by-election is in tatters tonight. Michael Crick has published the official figures from Oldham Council, which reveal that the Conservatives spent less than UKIP.

Despite reports that the cabinet had discussed how to help the Liberal Democrats win in Greater Manchester, the Conservative chair was telling anyone who would listen that the Tories took the campaign “extremely seriously”. Scrapbook would enjoy watching her attempt to spin this graph:

But what do you expect when your party leader can’t remember the name of your candidate?

Hypocrisy as Warsi calls for "clean campaign" after homophobic leaflets

11:22am Tue December 21st

19 comments

Sayeeda Warsi has called for a “clean campaign” in the upcoming Oldham East by-election. Signing a pledge (not that this has been problematic recently) with candidate Kashif Ali, the Conservative Party chairman said: “After everything that’s happened in Oldham East and Saddleworth, the last thing we need now is underhand behaviour in our election campaign.”

Must be a different Sayeeda Warsi to this one then:

As someone responsible for some of the most vile homophobic leaflets in recent memory, Warsi is absolutely the last person to be getting into the pulpit on campaigning tactics. Materials produced for her 2005 Westminster bid in Dewsbury - which she has never apologised for and were re-used by another candidate in 2007 – said:

Labour has scrapped Section 28, which was introduced by the Conservatives to stop schools promoting alternative sexual lifestyles such as homosexuality to children as young as seven years old.

Labour reduced the age of consent for homosexuality from 18 to 16, allowing schoolchildren to be propositioned for homosexual relationships.

In keeping with this new mood of “clean campaigning”, Scrapbook can only presume a full apology for this disgusting scaremongering will be forthcoming.

In terms of the fight in Oldham, however, It seems Conservative activists in the area would be happy for CCHQ to mount any kind of campaign at all.

Fearing meltdown for Lib Dem colleagues, David Cameron has intervened personally to neuter his own party’s campaign.

Baroness Warsi squirms in electoral fraud interview

11:38pm Sun October 3rd

37 comments

Notwithstanding very legitimate concerns around the security of postal voting, Sayeeda Warsi massively overreached herself in suggesting there were three MPs in the House of Commons who owed their victory to electoral fraud. If you haven’t seen it yet, John Sopel’s grilling of the Baroness is well worth a watch.

This episode will further entrench her reputation with some Tories as a gaffe-prone lightweight.

Wingnut jailed for egg attack on Tory peer

3:56pm Thu July 29th

2 comments

One of the so-called “Islamic” wingnuts who pelted Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi with eggs because she didn’t “represent Sharia” has been jailed for six weeks.

The men were reportedly members of Al-Muhajiroun, which advocated the creation of an Islamic state in Britain. The group was subsequently banned under terrorism legislation, along with the so-delusional-it’s-actually-funny Islam4UK.

If they’re so hot for Sharia law, Scrapbook suggests pelting politicians with eggs in Riyadh.

Is Iain Dale angling for a peerage?

4:57pm Thu June 17th

10 comments

Iain Dale’s post earlier today announced the end of his campaign for a Commons seat but seemed to leave the door ajar as far as Westminster is concerned:

Anyway, there are things I’d rather do over the next few years rather than flog what I consider to be a dead horse. I’ve always wanted to be a parliamentarian, but I’m not obsessive about it – perhaps that is where I have gone wrong!

Note the choice of words. One would usually say “I’ve always wanted to be an MP” but Dale writes “I’ve always wanted to be a parliamentarian“. There’s a difference there as the latter formulation would include peers.

By writing to Sayeeda Warsi to expunge his name from the candidates list (and then blogging about it) Dale signals clearly to the top brass that there will be no 11th-hour run for selection. His allies within the party and others who might want to see him in parliament are thus left with one option.

Notwithstanding his habit of treating other bloggers like children, Dale is solid media performer with a strong track record in publishing. Formalising his involvement with the party in this way might be an astute move on Cameron’s part.

Lord Dale of ~~Ashton~~ Ashdon?

Jack Straw, Sayeeda Warsi, Chris Huhne and Bonnie Greer to face BNP leader on Question Time

6:06pm Wed October 14th

15 comments

The addition of Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi to BBC Question Time on 22 October completes a lineup of Chris Huhne, Jack Straw and Bonnie Greer to appear alongside BNP leader Nick Griffin.

Reaction on the blogs has been mute, with Sunny Hundal questioning the appropriateness of a softly spoken, middle class American playwright (flanked by two white, middle class frontbenchers) to take on Nick Griffin:

“Middle class people generally hate cheap populism and the use of emotion to make political points. They prefer ‘rational argument’. Fuck that. The way to destroy the BNP is through emotional narratives and populism.” – Sunny Hundal

Further reaction available from Nothing British and ConservativeHome [will update this later this with more as it comes in]. The Times also has something from earlier today mooting Warsi as a possibility while arguing that William Hague would have been the better choice.

Scrapbook can’t promise not to shout at the TV.